


freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose

by kadaransmuggler



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types, Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Behavior, F/F, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, basically this is the plot of rdr2 with kassandra there, bounty hunter kassandra, or rather characters, or something like that, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the major character death is for a character that dies in canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 04:18:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19310473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kadaransmuggler/pseuds/kadaransmuggler
Summary: Kassandra walks into the sheriff's office in Valentine to pick up a bounty at the same time as outlaw Arthur Morgan does.





	1. Chapter 1

The midday sun beats down mercilessly over the sleepy landscape. The quiet is broken by an eagle’s call and the woman on her horse stops, glancing up with a tired smile on her face. After a moment, she flicks the reigns, and the horse begins to move again. Behind her she leads another horse, nickering like something has it spooked.

“Easy now, girl. I’ll have you back to your owner in a moment,” Kassandra murmurs, digging her heels in just a little and encouraging Phobos to speed up. It wasn’t the same Phobos she’d had back in Greece, of course. But it looked enough like the grey horse Markos had given her that she’d used the name all the same. Gods, but there were days she missed them.

Ikaros calls again from up ahead, where a young woman waits under the shade of an apple tree, a red-checkered picnic blanket spread out beneath her. Kassandra clicks her tongue, urging the horses up the hill before gently pulling on the reigns to stop them. The horse she’s leading calms as she slides off of Phobos and to the ground.

“Here you are, ma’am,” she says, smiling warmly, reaching up to tip her hat to the woman. Her accent bleeds through- no matter how much time she spends away from Greece, she can never quite get rid of it.

“None of that ma’am stuff. It makes me feel old and it’s all I’ve heard since my husband died. Call me Caroline,” the woman says, rising from the blanket, dusting her skirts off. Caroline steps forward, taking the reigns of her horse before leading it away, carefully looping the leather around one of the low-hanging branches and giving it a tug to make sure it was secure.

“Of course, Caroline,” Kassandra says, a bemused look on her face. Absentmindedly, she strokes Phobos’s flank, the horse nickering softly in response.

“Now, I’ve not got much to pay you with you, but here,” she says, reaching into her pockets and pulling out a handful of shiny copper pennies. Kassandra puts her hand up to stop her.

“No, no. None of that. I’m the one who spooked your horse by riding past so quickly. Getting it back for you was the least I could do,” she says. Caroline stares at her for a moment, eyes narrowed. Kassandra raises one eyebrow, silently asking her if this was really a fight she wanted to pick before Caroline sighed and put the coins back in her pocket.

“I do have another idea,” she says after a moment, voice dropping as she shifts closer.

“Oh? And what might that be?” Kassandra asks, amusement and curiosity warring within her.

“We’ve got an afternoon to while away,” she says, voice like sugar, brown eyes warm and inviting as her calloused hand comes up to wrap around her bicep.

Kassandra can’t remember how many months it’s been since she’s spent time with someone. She hesitates, for a moment. She’d been alone for too long, had let her thoughts drift back lifetimes. Greece had been hanging heavy over her lately- there was a part of her, fierce and wild, that missed the rocking swells of the sea. But there was another part of her, just as fierce and just as wild, that liked nothing more than galloping across the empty prairie.

It wasn’t like she had to stay. Wasn’t like Caroline was offering, either. The woman had a son and a life back in the sleepy little town of Valentine. Kassandra was there on the rumor of a bounty. It’d be nothing more than a stolen moment.

“I think I’d like that,” she murmurs after a moment, lips turning up in a smile. Caroline smiles back, soft as rain, and reaches up to knock the hat from Kassandra’s head as she pulls her down into a kiss. It’s clumsy and eager as Kassandra’s hands reach up, pulling Caroline’s long blond hair out of the bun it was twisted up in, her fingers tangling in it as she shifts closer. 

* * *

The midday sun has turned to dusk by the time Kassandra stirs. Her clothes are scattered around the edges of the blanket along with Caroline’s, the woman laying with her cheek pressed to Kassandra’s chest. The other woman is soft and warm against her as she stretches out, long and languid. Caroline murmurs a complaint, holding her just a little tighter before letting her go and sitting up.

“You going to Valentine, by any chance?” she asks, pushing her hair out of her face. Somehow, Kassandra’s hair had stayed in her braid.

“I am. Heard about a bounty posted at the sheriff’s office. And I could use a night at the hotel and a hot bath,” she admits, sitting up and drawing her knees to her chest.

“Ride back with me?” Caroline asks, her smile bright as the fading sun. Kassandra’s heart lurches in her chest and it was good that she wasn’t going to stay. It’d be dangerous, if she did.

She’d lost count of how many people she’d buried.

She knew if she stayed she’d end up burying Caroline, too.

“Sure,” is all she says, smiling back at her. She doesn’t need to burden the other woman with the dark turn her thoughts had taken.

They rise slowly, laughing as they dress. Caroline watches, biting her bottom lip, as Kassandra fastens her gun holsters to her thighs. They work together to fold the checkered picnic blanket, tucking it inside the horse’s saddlebags. And then, as gentlemanly as possible, Kassandra helped Caroline onto the back of her horse before hauling herself up on to Phobos’s back. Ikaros caws overhead as she clucks her tongue. If Caroline notices the eagle hanging around, she doesn’t say anything about it.

“Do you know anything about the bounty, by the by? I know I’ll get briefed at the sheriff’s office when I pick it up, but I’d like to know what I’m getting myself into,” Kassandra asks after a few moments, eyes on the horizon ahead of her. She doesn’t let herself turn to look at Caroline, at the way the breeze blows her long hair behind her, at the warm and gentle expression she gets when she looks at Kassandra.

“I think it’s something about those damned O’Driscoll boys. They caused one hell of a ruckus in the general store the other day. From what I heared, they’re wanted dead or alive,” Caroline says. Kassandra chances a glance over at her, eyes following the downward curve of her lips.

“That’s the best kind of bounty when it comes to an O’Driscoll,” Kassandra says, a shark-tooth smile on her face as she reaches down to pat her revolver. Caroline snorts.

“You’ve got that right. But be careful, would you? It’d be a shame if it was an outlaw that put you down,” she says. Up ahead, Valentine comes into view, minuscule in the distance.

“It’ll take more than that,” Kassandra says grimly. She tries not to think of Greece as she spurs her horse into a gallop.


	2. Chapter 2

Kassandra would like to say she’d woken early with the dawn, but that hadn’t been the case. The previous night, she’d escorted Caroline home, tipping her hat to the young man sitting on the porch, who she supposed must be the widow’s son. Caroline tried to convince her to come in and spend the night with them, but she politely declined before riding back into Valentine proper.

She rode Phobos to the barn, forking over an entire dollar to ensure that the horse was treated well before walking to the hotel. There, she’d spent an obscene amount of time in the bath, only heading up to bed when the water had long since gone cold and she’d scrubbed all of the road dust off of her. She slept soundly, dreams a confusing blend of everything she’d seen so far.

She wakes to the sound of a bird cawing- Ikaros, she thinks. Her sleep-addled brain half expects her to wake to the feeling of the Adrestia rocking under her feet, but that isn’t the case. She’s in Valentine, landlocked and far from the seas that she missed. With a grumble, she hefts herself out of bed, dressing hurriedly before making her way downstairs.

The road leading through Valentine is nothing but mud. Kassandra grimaces as she steps into the street- so much for all the care she’d taken in the bath the previous night.

She heads to the general store first. She was running low on some things- biscuits and apples for Phobos, canned fruit for herself, bullets for her guns. She missed the days when she carried a sword and a bow as her main weapons. A sword never needed ammo and arrows she could make herself with a little time dedicated to it. And the bows were quiet while the revolvers on her hips and the rifle on her back very much were not. She kept a short bow for hunting, though. Couldn’t bring herself to part with it entirely.

The shopkeeper hadn’t seemed interested in small talk, which suited Kassandra just fine. In a lot of the little towns she’d been in she’d either played the part of the sullen grumpy stranger or she’d been forced into small talk about things she didn’t care about. Very rarely did they have anything worthwhile to talk about- any troubles the towns had that needed solving could usually be found out elsewhere. She didn’t need someone bothering her while she was trying to figure out if they were also cheating her with their prices or trying to pick out the fruit that would last the longest or trying to decide if she wanted to spend her hard-earned money on that bottle of whiskey or not.

She wondered when she’d gotten so grumpy.

With her purchases tucked safely away in her bag, Kassandra headed back into the street, shielding her eyes against the bright sun. A dog drowsed on the porch of the saloon, lifting its head to look at her with sad eyes before laying back down, all droopy ears. She stooped down to pet it, rewarded by a few slow thumps of the tail against the worn wooden boards of the porch.

She could go on to the sheriff’s office and loop back to the saloon for breakfast before leaving, but her stomach growled at the thought. The night before she’d made do with the last of her jerky. It had been an unfulfilling and small meal that left her wanting more. Not that it had stopped her from sleeping like the dead. With a sigh, she stood back up and pushed open the doors of the saloon.

It was quiet and sleepy, like everything else in Valentine. It had been rowdy the night before, the loud din of the patrons inside audible even from the street as she passed. Now, though, it seemed there were only a couple of patrons at the tables scattered through the room and a couple of men leaning up against the bar as she made her way over, pretending she didn’t see the looks the two men shot her. They looked vaguely familiar, but she didn’t bother trying to place them. It wasn’t why she was here.

The menu boasted a couple of options, but Kassandra went with what as cheapest. And a beer to wash it down with, of course. It wasn’t anything fancy, just goopy oatmeal that she stirred around absentmindedly with her spoon before digging in. Gods, but she missed the foods she’d grown up with. Roasted lamb and fresh fish, goat cheese and fruits that didn’t grow in the Midwestern American soil.

She ate quickly, trying not to taste the oatmeal as she did, downing her beer before standing up. The bartender indicated she should leave her plate on the table so she did, taking a moment to adjust the holsters for her guns before stepping back out into the day’s heat once more. Though it was warm, a gentle breeze was blowing, making the heat a little more bearable. She adjusted the hat on her head to better block out the sun before making her way down the muddy street to the sheriff’s office.

Ikaros cawed out just as Kassandra nearly collided with a man’s broad chest. She jerked backward at the same time he did, each of them reaching out a hand to steady the other.

“Sorry, ma’am, I didn’t see you there,” he says, a warm smile on his face. He has a thick drawl to his words- he must have grown up here.

“It’s okay. It’s probably my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she says, giving him a tight-lipped smile in return.

“Say, what’s your business here?” he asked, gesturing to the sheriff’s office. Kassandra’s smile froze in place- couldn’t he just let her go about it?

“I heard there was a bounty on offer. I was here to take it,” she says and the man’s face falls.

“Same reason I’m here, then. Say, do you want to team up? Could split the reward, whatever it is,” he offers.

It had been a long time since Kassandra had worked with anybody. She’d long since learned that she was better alone, without worrying about what someone else was doing. Especially in a fight. Especially now with guns that weren’t as accurate as they could be. Still, the cowboy in front of her looked strong and capable. If anything, working with him would give her a reason to show off. Men were always surprised when Kassandra proved herself just as strong and quick and capable as them, if not better.

“Why don’t you tell me your name first, cowboy? I don’t work with strangers,” she says, her smile loosening into a grin that the man returns.

“Most folk call me Arthur, miss,” he says, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. A nervous tick, maybe?

“Well, Arthur. I’m Kassandra. I heard the bounty was for a couple of O’Driscoll boys causing trouble for the town, so I’d welcome the help. Should be a sizable enough reward to split it,” she says, thumbs finding her belt loops. She notices a flicker cross his face at the mention of O’Driscoll- did he have a history with the gang, she wondered?

“Sounds good enough to me, mi-Kassandra,” he says, his face smoothing into a warm smile as he holds open the door for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! as always, thanks so much for reading! i didn't intend to get another update up so quickly but i'm sure glad i did. i hope you enjoy it as things start to pick up. regardless, i hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter was very set-up-y. arthur's gonna come in in the next chapter, don't you worry. i just wanted to set the scene for bounty hunter kassandra. ideally, it'll still be awhile before her story truly intersects with that of the van der linde gang. but as always the characters do what they want so that might not be the case


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